Never Alone
by Shantel Lukasik
Summary: Iva felt out of place even when people were nice to her. When she finds someone who is even more out of place, she can't help but be drawn to him. Can she find the friendship and trust she has been looking for in Nico di Angelo? Will she find more than that? Or will she just find rejection and heartbreak? NicoxOC


I was still having a hard time believing that I am a demigod. But I was there at Camp Half-Blood watching a bunch of older kids learning how to fight and running around lava pit training courses. I had attempted to participate with not so great results. It wasn't that I didn't like being here. I was suddenly safe from stupid monsters tracking me down and trying to eat me. I could potentially find friends here. I could even have a home again. Yet there was a part of me that felt out of place. It isn't that the other kids are mean to me, because they aren't. But I got claimed by my godly parent, only to be pushed aside and looked down upon. That didn't make me feel too good.

I was probably one the youngest campers since it was winter. Chiron had told me that I would see younger ones once summer came. Chiron, the camp's leader, was a really nice guy. I mean…nice centaur. But to be honest, I just really wanted to find a friend. I had never really had one before. All the…mortals…I suppose that's what I should call them since everyone here calls them that…they found me strange and did not want to get to know me.

I was just coming out of the Hermes Cabin when I saw a sports car on fire fall straight out of the sky and land smack into the canoe lake. I stared stunned for a moment trying to register if the car cooling down in the lake was real or not. I then took off running toward the lake. Other campers were doing the same as well. We watched as a bunch of females in silver jackets exited the car as well as a girl wearing punk clothes that I recognized as Thalia, Daughter of Zeus, a satyr, a teenage boy, and a younger boy. Thalia had been around camp sometimes when I was and she would hang out with a girl named Annabeth, a pretty blonde girl whose mom was Athena. Okay, I couldn't help it when a small shiver of excitement went through me when I saw the youngest boy. He looked about my age, so maybe I could have a friend. All these older kids seemed pretty nice too. I had to admit, though, the girls in the jackets seemed kind of hostile to me. Yet there was something about the youngest boy. A strange feeling I couldn't describe. The best way to put it was that I became super aware of him in comparison to anyone else.

"Away from the lake, everyone, back to the cabins."

There was a grumble at this. Chiron had come out of the Big House, which is what they called the big white farmhouse inside the camp boundaries, and was shooing us away. As I moved off, I glanced back, I noticed the younger boy pull something out of his pocket, just to make sure it was there. I almost tripped in shock.

"You play Mythomagic?!"

The boy looked up at my random shout and met my eyes. Another shiver went through me. It was not out of pure excitement this time. I swear that those eyes had sent fear through me for just a moment before he smiled at me. Connor Stoll's hand was suddenly on my shoulder.

"Come on. Chiron said to move along," he told me gently," Do you want me to teach you how to put itching powder in someone's bedroll and get away with it?"

I reluctantly followed him, knowing that I would never need to know how to do this prank, but at least he was being friendly with me, so I went along with it.

Later that day, I was sitting on my bedroll when the boy I had seen before was shown into the Hermes Cabin by the Stoll brothers. He was carrying his own personal bag and a bedroll given by the camp. I didn't mention it earlier, but Connor had a twin named Travis. They are hard to tell apart, but Connor is a bit shorter than Travis which is an easy difference to notice when you're as short as me. At this point, Travis and Conner were supposed to be practicing sword fighting, something they allowed me not to do as I tended to almost get run through every time I tried to fight. It made sense though. My godly parent isn't exactly a go to war, fight a battle type of god. As I was close to the door and the only one here this winter who wasn't a child of Hermes, the Stoll brothers steered him over to me. I suddenly felt very self-conscious.

"Hey, Iiiii-va," Travis greeted me," Meet Nico di Angelo. He's going to be staying in our cabin until his godly parent claims him. Nico, meet Iva Blake. She is a daughter of Hecate."

Nico's eyes lit up.

"Your mom's got seven hundred attack power and does three hundred extra fire damage against ice attacks!"

I couldn't help but cringe. I liked the game Mythomagic, but I had never dared compare the game to the real gods.

"Yeah, that's her."

Nico had completely forgotten the Stoll brothers at this point, which was fine by them as they snuck away with a smirk. Travis made obvious hand gestures that said "Show him around". Their plan had worked. They had ditched him with someone else. I didn't really mind though.

"You're the girl who shouted to me about Mythomagic, right?" he asked, pulling out his cards," I also have my figurines in my bag. I can show them to you after-"

He turned and realized that the older boys were gone. I couldn't help but giggled as he quietly murmured "Oh". Turning back to me, he smiled sheepishly. He was cute in his own way, despite being in that awkward stage between being baby faced to growing into adolescence. He had olive colored skin and black hair. His bangs fell into his eyes a bit, but you could still tell that his eyes were brown. I cleared my throat to make my brain start working. It would be my first time showing someone around the camp, but obviously no one else was going to do it.

"You can basically pick anywhere you put your bedroll. I hear it's a pretty packed cabin in the summer. I hear we have it good in the winter, considering Connor, Travis, and I were the only ones here this winter. If there is anything you don't want to potentially have taken, keep it with you or locked in something. You know…we've all heard things about Hermes. Connor and Travis are also fond of pulling pranks.'

I knew he was thinking about his Mythomagic possessions as he hugged his bag tighter. He placed his bedroll down near mine, which made my face heat up slightly. Turning away, I watched as he took a smaller shoulder bag out of his bag and left the big bag on the bedroll. He grinned.

"Not that I have much to take, really," he noted.

I smiled and moved toward the door. He followed after quickly. He was a decent listener, but most of the time he would ask question after question. Being so new to the camp it was hard to answer everything, especially when he asked questions like "Why is there not a cabin for your mom?" or "Do you think you'd have seven hundred attack power if you were a Mythomagic card?" I tried not to laugh, as I knew he was serious, but he was really nice otherwise. After showing him around, we played Mythomagic until dinner. It was a pretty quiet dinner except for the girls in silver, who I found out where the Hunters of Artemis. They were having a great time together. Most of the camp was down because news had gotten out that something had happened to Annabeth and no one knew if she was still alive. I noticed throughout dinner that Nico kept glancing over at the Artemis table. I didn't ask because the look on his face was a mixture of sad, angry, lonely, and downright…grudging. I was kind of excited for the next day though, because Chiron had announced that we would have a capture the flag event against the Hunters. I would of course be pretty useless, but doing something big with everyone would be interesting.


End file.
